I've always got a couple books on the go and usually in multiple genres. Not generally one for the fluffy, my go-to's are; romantic suspense, real life adventure/bio's, a bit of man-love and I have a soft spot when it comes to the tortured heroes and a good tragedy. What all this says about me...IDK? Oh yeah, I'm also a (GR's) refugee.

Opening line: "In the deserted men’s restroom at the back of Middleton Community College, Sam Keller knelt on the tile, braced his hands against Keith Jameson’s thighs, and broke his mother’s heart.”

This was a pretty decent read. I always love a good road trip story and you can’t get more road trippy than hitting the highway with a hot trucker. I’ll admit this never fully grabbed me like some of my other man-love has and I had a bit of a love/hate relationship going with the main character but it did take me through a gamut of emotions and out of my comfort zone a few times so that’s always good. (I even learned a few things)

I think one of the reasons I had trouble engaging with the main character is because he was constantly whining, afraid and self-deprecating and (on a purely personal side) at the root of it all a twink. I like my heroes more on the alpha side, so I was stuck in Sam’s head for the entire journey and his discontent became sort of contagious. (Were I a gay man I definitely be a top)-see what I mean, learned something about myself, anyways.Sam’s story is one of self-discovery. It’s a coming of age story, an escape, a ménage, it’s very kinky and ultimately a love story (the ending is just beautiful.) I felt it went on a bit too long in places but there’s huge character development involved and I was cheering by the end.

Sam Keller is twenty one and living in his aunt and uncle basement after losing his Mother to cancer. He goes to college part time, with the hopes of becoming a nurse and works in his Aunts pharmacy, dancing to Kylie Minogue in the stock room and dreaming of something more than blowing random dudes in bathroom stalls. To say he’s unhappy with his life is an understatement but he can’t see any way out of it either. All that changes the day he spots the big blue semi parked behind the pharmacy and the hot, hot trucker staring at him. He is flirting with him right? And all at once Sam’s fantasies are coming true as he finds himself being taken in the back of the rig by a complete stranger.

Sam’s evil aunt eventually forces his hand and he finds himself fleeing his life and hitting the road with Mitch. Almost immediately they lay the ground rules; Mitch is older, experienced and heavily into the kink but he’s also willing to let Sam embrace his new sexual freedom and desires in his own time. So yeah, this is a pretty kinky (see educational) read, with Mitch and Sam doing a whole lot of toys and each other between rest stops.

Ultimately this is about Sam discovering what he likes and just how far he is willing to go to reach that perfect place. Towards the end Sam and Mitch hit Vegas meeting up with Randy; the ghost from Mitch’s past, a real piece of work and the one ultimately responsible for providing the emotional connection between Sam and Mitch as they enter into a 3-way long weekend. Some of these scenes were quite moving; the eye contact, the intake of breathe, do you want to stop, to go further? Sam is finding himself and in doing so is ready to return to his life again, on his terms. Cheers.